Born a Monster
by Mjus
Summary: In a world crawling with monsters, far north where there is no sun during winter and no moon during summer, Viktor is a dancer living in one of the few remaining human villages. Monsters doesn't like the cold climate, so they are sare here. Or are they really?
1. The human village

Music filled the air along with the smoke from the fires and the smell of grilled meat. People laughed and drank and ate in celebration of the harvest. It had been a good year and the livestock had grown fat. Tonight would see many neglected needs satisfied. Already there were muted sounds coming from the barns where young couples had sneaked away to love in the hay.

In the heart of the town, around the fire in front of the chief's house, the dancers were dancing the troika. From its hiding place high up in the trees, the monster had its eyes locked on one dancer in particular. The dancer had long hair, unbound and falling over his shoulders like a river of stars that was waving happily around his head as the dancer changed partners. The monster was transfixed. The silver dancer was more graceful than the others, and would sometimes jump up on the table reserved for the offerings and dance a tribute.

Like he did right now.

The monster sat perfectly still with its tail wrapped tightly around the branch. The townspeople might be drunk tonight, but there were still a number of guards that weren't, and the monster preferred to stay out of their sight. If they spotted the monster in the trees, the monster would have to run, and there was no telling when it would get the chance to hear music and see dancing again.

The music changed as the dancer raised his arms above his head, looking to the sky, and the monster liked to pretend the dancer looked up at it and smile. Like they shared a secret. Of course there was no secret, and the smile certainly wasn't for the monster, but it liked to pretend. Liked to dream. Dreams of the silver dancer singing and dancing with the monster were a nice change from the silence of its den.

Ever the nervous creature, the monster tore its eyes away from the silver dancer for a second to survey the area, make sure it was still safe. It was unlikely that anything would attack the village tonight, what with all the noise that was unpleasant and uncomfortable for any wildlife, but humans were a skittish race.

Finding the its own hideout and the village safe, the monster quickly turned its eyes back on the dancer finishing up with a spin and a reckless, heart-stopping jump into the air which he landed so lightly as if he was a fairy.

The crowd applauded, the dancer bowed, and a woman ran into his arms.

The monster's heart broke at the sight. It knew, of course, that Silver had a mate, that his love and life belonged to her. She only shared Silver at nights like these.

It was no use staying any longer. The moon had already passed its zenith and more couples were disappearing to mate. The silver dancer would join his woman in their nest and the monster wouldn't see him before springtime. So the hiding beast unwrapped its tail, took surveillance again before it climbed a few branches down, making sure not to disturb the red and yellow leaves. It jumped from tree to tree until it couldn't hear the music anymore. That's when it finally put its feet back on solid ground.

Its clawed toes stretched out, felt the earth and moss and left tiny scratches as traces as the monster moved between the trees and rocks, back into the mountains where it lived.

* * *

Winters were merciless in this part of the world, and Viktor Nikiforov both loved and hated it. He loved the snow, but hated the cold that settled in his veins. He loved how the air became so clear and seemed to glisten when the sun was out, but he hated how short the days were and how deep the darkness could become, especially during the months the sun didn't rise at all.

He loved to be out in the snow, to plough through it, make figures out of snowballs and to go down to the frozen pond, put on his blades and dance on the ice.

He hated how the snow pushed up against the doors of his home and locked him inside with the woman who had handed herself to him and was to become his wife. The chief had already blessed them.

Don't get him wrong, Inna was a catch. Beautiful and good around the house and in the kitchen, brave and strong. Viktor just didn't love her. The pleasure they shared was shallow to him and he had failed to make her pregnant, no matter how much she moaned encouragement and love as they came together.

At the moment Viktor sat under the roof of his house by the highest window and looked at the dark morning as he combed and braided his hair. It had been a new moon and the stars glistened in the sky, promising another bitingly cold day.

A heavy sigh sounded behind him and Viktor turned his head. Makkachin, a brown dog of unknown breed and curly fur, was leaning tiredly against Viktor's back. He'd been up a lot during the night, nervously sniffing around the doors and walls. Once he'd started barking hysterically for several minutes. Inna, Viktor's fiancée who had never come to an agreement with the dog, had threatened to cook him for dinner if Viktor couldn't get the mutt to shut up.

Maybe that's why Viktor failed to love her. It might have been a lot easier if the look of disgust or annoyance would stop appearing on Inna's face whenever she heard or spotted Makkachin.

Viktor finished braiding his long hair and gathered the dog in his arms. It was in times like these he missed Yakov, his foster parent, with a passion that ached. But the world had simply become too dangerous, the old world of the humans having collapsed two centuries ago, and only the coldest parts of the world stayed somewhat safe from the new creatures that had developed and swarmed the earth.

Life nowadays was primitive. There were villages like this lining the edges of the safe parts of the world, and there were travellers like Yakov and his troop. Travellers were often entertainers or merchants and trained fighters in one. Viktor too; he knew how to hunt and was a master in hand-to-hand combat, he was just more priced as a dancer.

Viktor sighed and buried his whole hands in Makkachin's thick fur. Yakov's troop had been ambushed by a small tribe of monsters using simple weapons and combat strategies that had killed half of the troop. Yakov had been gravely alarmed that the monsters were intelligent enough to develop something that looked roughly like guerrilla warfare. That's when he'd taken a detour and left Viktor and a couple others in this village, hoping to protect them as well them spreading their knowledge to the able-bodied men and women of the village and that way create a safe enough haven for everyone.

That was seven years ago. Yakov still passed through once or twice a year, sharing new knowledge, ensured Viktor and his fellows hadn't slacked off and proceeded to beat them all up. No matter how much Viktor worked to improve his dancing and fighting skills his mentor was still so much stronger, always landing the three of them on their butts. Not that it should be surprising; Viktor and his friends had grown up watching Yakov take down bears with his bare hands.

A window opposite of Viktor's opened and the dancer's face lit up. Georgi had apparently gone stir-crazy and was now jumping out into the dark and cold. Viktor reached for his furs hanging on a hook below the rafter he sat on, upsetting the dog on his lap and called down to the first floor.

"Inna, I'm going out!"

He heard her yell something that sounded like disapproval, but wasn't listening. Georgi wasn't the only one who hated being holed up inside. His old friend was on his way to the pond, lantern held above his head and Viktor hurriedly tied the snow-walkers on his feet to catch up. Behind him, from the window he had left open, he heard Inna call his name in fury, but Makkachin was jumping around, happy to finally be out, and lifted his leg against nearest available hill of snow with a face of immense relief. Viktor wanted to hurry on, but apparently the dog had been holding it for quite some time and couldn't cut it.

Forty seconds ticked by before the dog was done, and by then Viktor was torn between amusement and great pity.

"I'm so sorry, Makkachin. I wish it was easier to take you out during winter."

The dog nudged his human, forgiving him, and trotted on. The dog had wide, flat paws that were perfect for walking in the snow and he ran ahead to join Georgi as Viktor struggled a little to walk and secure his cloths around himself at the same time. At least his old friend waited.

"So you decided to brave the cold as well," Georgi said, a statement more than anything, and smiled under his big hat.

"You know me," Viktor smiled.

"Yes, I do," his friend sighed and just started walking again. That's what Viktor loved the most about Georgi; he didn't need to explain anything.

The two of them had belonged to Yakov's troop since childhood, the only difference being that Viktor had been found with his father and Georgi had been found alone and more dead than alive. Viktor's father; Nadia, had quickly become a second father all of the youngest of Yakov's troop and the only grown-up with soft hands. Unfortunately he had died to protect the children from a monster that had made it past the defences when Viktor was fifteen. Today he and Georgi were twenty-five.

A glob of snow hit the ground a few feet ahead of the duo and the both stopped for a second. Few were the monsters that strayed this far north, but there were still those who did. There was even one kind of monster that came from the north, but Viktor had only seen those once, and the darkness of the winter hid them well. It was still better to be safe than sorry.

"I've been restless all night," Georgi confessed as they started walking again, lifting his lantern even higher in hopes spreading more light.

Viktor frowned and threw another look around the trees. "Makkachin was worried too."

"We didn't see any traces around the village during reconnoitring yesterday, I haven't seen a flyer since before Yakov and that was way south. The only creatures that climbs trees that I know of that could come this far are the tails."

"But the tails are reptiles," Viktor muttered. "They hibernate, or move further south during the cold months."

"Hopefully I'm just overreacting," Georgi sighed.

"We should take an extra turn around the village during reconnoitring later anyway, just in case," Viktor decided and his friend agreed.

By now they had reached the pond; a large flat area of snow disturbed only by a couple of traces of familiar nocturnal wildlife and Makkachin jumping around where the snow was a little shallower.

"We dig and dig to keep the area clean and there's still more snow every time we return," Georgi sighed and moved to the heap of snow by the pond where they kept their shovels and put the lantern down.

"At least it will keep us warm," Viktor said optimistically, grabbing a shovel for himself. Unfortunately Georgi didn't find it funny.

The dancers were halfway done clearing the ice when they saw a light coming towards them from the direction of the village. It only took them a short while to recognize the little pile of furs and they both stopped what they were doing to wait for the boy.

"Even if the chief says we don't have to worry as much during the winter, it's not safe to be out alone," Georgi chided.

"Then you better let me stick around, since nobody else is out," the boy retorted.

Viktor couldn't help but smile. "Well then, you might as well grab a shovel and clear some ice with us. I suppose you brought your blades?"

The boy showed the two pieces of hardened, polished wood before pocketing them again and fetching a shovel, his lantern joining Georgi's in the snow. Makkachin looked up from where he was digging a temporary den for himself before he returned to the task.

Little Yurachek Plisetsky, or just Yura, was thirteen and the son of the town whore. He was a beautiful boy with clear, green eyes, a feminine face, and it sickened Viktor how many men were throwing their eyes after him, just waiting for the child to pick up his mother's business even though Yura was male. The women were worse. In response, the boy himself had become distant, angry and only hung around Viktor and Georgi in hopes of them teaching him how to protect himself against humans rather than monsters. The chief had forbidden them to take Yura as an apprentice though, and the look in his eyes when he gazed at the young boy was what really turned the dancers' stomachs.

That's also exactly why they turned their backs and ignored the boy was there when they just so happened to be talking about their defensive techniques or practicing moves. If Yura picked anything up, Viktor and Georgi certainly hadn't taught him anything.

The three of them spent the morning and early noon on the ice, the two dancers practicing their moves and flexibility while Yura stalked around them and imitated their moves when they weren't looking. Georgi caught sight of him now and then, and because there really was only the three of them out, he wordlessly adjusted Yura's posture, pulled his leg a little further out and arm a little further back. Viktor kept watch at those times. After all, there was a third dancer of Yakov's troop in the village.

Sure enough, when the three men decided to stop and return home for food and their other duties, Mila came trotting from the village, followed by two other women.

"Oh Viktor. Georgi… you're leaving?"

Viktor smiled charmingly at the girl who he had once considered a friend of his own mind. "Yeah, I skipped breakfast. Inna was in a bad mood this morning."

"I heard her," one of the girls behind Mila giggled. "You should leave her, Viktor. There are better women in the village."

"That won't do," the silver-haired dancer disagreed. "I'm a faithful man. If I left her for someone else, wouldn't that make me unfaithful?" he leaned a little closer. "Or do you like it when your men are two-timing?"

Mila saw the trap coming from a mile away, but she had also caught sight of Yurachek.

"Yura!" she cried in delight and wrapped her strong arms around the boy before he could jump away. "You shouldn't be out today! It's cold and what if you got hurt? Did Viktor or Georgi sneak you out?"

"I walked out _by myself_ , bitch!" Yura snarled and fought against the hold.

"Why didn't you ask me to take you? I could have…"

Georgi grabbed one of Mila's arms and pulled firmly enough to surprise the woman and release the boy who quickly ran off. "You shouldn't force your company on others, Mila. They might not appreciate it as much as you think."

Viktor abandoned his game with Mila's friends. "I'll go get him. You should return to the village," he called to the group and followed the young boy fleeing between the trees, Makkachin hot on his heels.

When the dancer caught up with Yura, the boy was still shaking. "I can take care of myself!" he yelled at the older man when Viktor fell in beside him.

"I know, just to be safe," the dancer replied easily.

"I'm a man, for Christ sake! I don't need a woman to treat me like a lady!"

"True."

"Why won't they stop?! I'm not that weak! I can fight and join the guard too!"

"Of course."

By now Viktor had the boy collected in his arms with Yura beating against his chest in frustration. He was so close to tears, and that's when Makkachin suddenly barked sharply.

Viktor quickly pressed Yura hard against his body to silence him, eyes widening as his gaze followed where his dog's attention was pointing.

There, a movement between the trees, and Viktor realized with a start why there hadn't been any traces left by this monster; it moved _underneath_ it, and the only weapons Viktor had on him was his skating blades, a hunting knife in each boot and his own body. Hopefully it wasn't something with a shell.

The monster lifted its head and butted it against a tree, lifting several little legs to grab hold of the trunk.

It was… a caterpillar! A giant, snow-white caterpillar… thing, with a wide mouth, long tongue and it appeared to have a hardened, layered skin. Its body was as thick as Viktor's and in the snow it was hard to tell how long it was. It didn't have eyes though as far as Viktor could tell. Not even antennas. So how was it navigating?

The caterpillar turned its head towards Viktor and Yura and Makkachin started barking in earnest. Unfortunately that set the monster off and it roared and lurched forward, aiming for the barking.

Viktor threw Yura behind him. "Run!" her ordered sharply, pulled out his hunting knives and ran forward, going for the monster's neck as it chased Makkachin who was expertly dancing out of the way, still barking. The dancer had never seen this kind of monster before, but all monsters have weak spots. Surely there was soft skin under the hard shell around this monster's head. Unfortunately it was a lot more agile than its size suggested and Viktor had barely gotten hold of an edge of shell before the monster jerked violently. He heard a cry that was not his own, and to his horror he saw the monster turn from Makkachin and towards Yura.

Yura hadn't run. When Viktor threw him away he had lifted his head and seen a monster for the first time in his life, and he had frozen on the spot in horror. The monster threw Viktor like he was a doll, and Yura didn't realize he screamed. Not until the monster suddenly turned on him, mouth open to a dark hole.

Then the monster started twisting and turning again. Yura saw how Makkachin had latched onto one of the hundreds of legs.

The child closed his eyes.

"Yura!" a harsh voice breathed in the child's ear, and all that stopped him from yelping again was the hand that covered his mouth.

Viktor was by his side, alive.

"I promise I'll be right behind you, Yura. But you need to run back to the village. Now," the dancer promised in a hurried tone.

The child nodded, then they heard a sharp yelp of pain from Makkachin. Viktor stood and ran back to the monster, calling one last "run" over his shoulder.

The dog had lost its grip on the monster's leg when it hit a tree. Viktor sacrificed a blade, throwing it at the opening between the monster's head plates with a loud cry.

Hearing Viktor's voice the monster jerked again, the knife harmlessly bouncing off the protective shell and it lurched for him with its body flailing behind it, knocking Makkachin back when he tried to bite onto another leg.

Viktor tried to jump out of the way, but the snow was too deep and his jump not nearly as far as he'd hoped. The only luck he had was that he avoided its mouth, but the hard body slammed into him with the force of a battling ram.

The last thing Viktor knew was that he was flying through the air before pain exploded in his head.

* * *

The monster had been looking for the missing stone-biter all morning, keeping to the trees so to not leave trails in the snow. The white beast had never left the mountains before, and she had left her young larva behind, which worried the monster greatly. Now it had finally found the mother, engaged in a fight with a dog and a human. The dog was knocked away as the stone-biter threw herself at the human who tried to dodge, only to be hit by the young mother's coils.

The monster in the trees hurriedly released an arrow into the tree closest to the stone-biter's head.

The package of iron and ammoniac burst, and the young mother froze, confused. The monster let out a few chirps, hoping it would calm the stone-biter, let her know she was safe and that the monster would lead her back home.

The stone-biter let out a few sad grunts, then obediently walked up to the smell, licking it off the tree.

The monster shot another arrow, and then took a closer look at the dog and human. The latter lay motionless in the snow, but the dog was there, licking the human's face. The dog's body spoke of anxiousness and worry. It trembled and seemed torn between waking and protecting the human against the stone-biter.

Another arrow with ammoniac and iron. The stone-biter was moving steadily. They weren't that far from an entry into the mountains, or the human village for that matter. Surely more humans would arrive soon and by then both the monster and stone-biter better be back into the caves.

A spot of red near the human's head caught the monster's eye. That couldn't be good.

Releasing another two arrows to lead the stone-biter, the monster carefully climbed further down the tree. The dog looked up at it and whined, pleading for help.

The monster looked back towards the young mother. She was near an entry now, but lay completely still under the snow, waiting for another lead. That's why the monster carefully climbed down. It had tied pieces of leather around its toes so it wouldn't sink into the snow.

The dog wagged its tail hopefully. The human was bleeding through his furry hat, and the monster carefully removed it, finding a braid of silver hair and froze.

"Silver?" it whispered, unsure. It had never seen the silver dancer up close and didn't know him by anything but the hair and movements. The dancer was now wrapped in thick layers of fur and leather, so this could be someone else.

The dog nudged the monster's hands, begging now. The monster looked around quickly, ears twitching, but it didn't sound like any humans were on the way and Silver would surely die if he stayed in the snow like this.

Steeling its nerves, the monster took off its bow and arrows and carefully hoisted the human up on its back. He was a lot heavier than the monster had thought, but still wrapped its tail around one of the human's legs, secured the bow by the hip and grabbed its arrows.

"Come, but be quiet," the monster told the dog and ran up to the waiting stone-biter.

* * *

 **Author's notes.**

Hey everyone :) Since I finished Old World and realized I only had one actively updating story, I debated with myself for a while before deciding to update this experiment. It shouldn't be longer than fifteen chapters. However, as usual, the fate of this story is in the hands of you, my readers :) Please leave me a comment if this is a story worth finishing.


	2. The monster's den

A/N For those of you waiting for OtotW to update; I'm working on it! In the meantime, please enjoy this writing experiment :)

* * *

 _ **The monster's den**_

The village was quiet this morning. When Yura had returned the day before, without Viktor and barely able to speak, Georgi, Mila and a few of the guard had gone out in search of their best dancer. They had managed to find the tracks of Viktor and Yura, but the tracks of the monster just appeared and disappeared in the middle of the snow. Since Yura had sworn the monster he had seen had been a giant white worm with hundreds of short legs Georgi had thought it couldn't have gotten that far, but they couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. Unfortunately, they had found blood, an imprint of a human body in the snow and Makkachin's tracks around it, along with triangular imprints of what was surely a second monster.

Two monsters appearing in the middle of winter, one man and his dog already dead. The security had to be heightened.

* * *

Viktor's head was pounding as if someone was hitting him with a hammer. He groaned and tried to lift a hand, but his whole body felt heavy. It was way too hot too.

Something cool touched his head and the pounding eased a little. He sighed and fell back into the darkness.

The next time he woke up, the headache wasn't as bad, but he still felt hot and too heavy to move.

Viktor cracked an eye open. His sight was blurry, but there was no sharp light. It wasn't completely dark either. Blinking several times the dancer was highly surprised to find himself in a room lined with a few strange-looking candles. He was also lying under a soft pelt that smelled like goat.

With a grunt of effort Viktor sat up against the wall by his head. Just… it wasn't a wall made of wood, but of rock.

A snuffling sound rose to his awareness and Viktor looked around. Makkachin appeared from a hole in the wall, and when he saw his human awake he ran straight up to Viktor with his tail wagging so wildly he almost lost his balance.

"Hi there, Makkachin," the dancer greeted tiredly and accepted the doggy kisses with grace.

The dog stepped back, and that's when Viktor finally noticed another presence in the room. A presence that froze him on the spot in fear.

The figure stood on two legs on feet that resembled those of a chicken, but with only three toes. A long, slim tail with a black tuft at the end swayed gently from under a long tunic. The body was similar to that of a human with two arms and clawed hands holding a bowl. Its skin looked the same colour as honey in the candlelight. But the most fearsome feature was its face; a dark red skull with empty sockets where the eyes should be and fangs that reached below the chin.

Yakov called them Valans, the one kind of monsters with enough intellect to rival humans.

"I'm glad you're awake."

Viktor almost had a heart attack. The valan could _speak_!

Makkachin tore out of Viktor's arms and… greeted the monster like a friend. One clawed hand lifted the bowl out of reach while the other gently caressed the dog's neck, mindful of its fingertips.

Makkachin turned and gave his human a happy dog face. Makkachin, who was a well-trained guard dog, was cuddly with a monster right in front of Viktor!

The valan walked forward with Makkachin at its side and kneeled by Viktor's feet, which he had unconsciously pulled towards himself, and set the bowl on the floor. It was filled with a greenish liquid that appeared to have the same consistency as water and a gentle steam rose from it. So it was warm?

"It will help ease the pain," the valan spoke, but Viktor was still too caught on the fact it could manage human speech to get to what it actually said. But something glittered in those empty sockets.

They weren't empty then? Of course they couldn't be! If the valans didn't have eyes they would be blind. The eyes were probably just sitting so deep and were so dark Viktor couldn't see them without a light shining straight into the sockets.

In front of him, the monster seemed to sag, its head lowering slightly. "I apologize, for bringing you here."

Viktor blinked, his mind going perfectly blank.

"If I had left you there, you might have died before your kin came to find you."

The monster's voice was quiet, but when Viktor still failed to respond, it pushed the bowl a little closer.

"Please drink," it said with a quiet, sad voice and left.

Makkachin whined and stood, looking after the monster and then at Viktor in indecision, then he just sat down and gave his human a long look.

It took a long minute for Viktor's thoughts to come back to him, and for his mouth to close. It was just so much to take in. Apparently the valan had… what had it done? Saved Viktor and Makkachin from that white worm? What had happened to it? Why would the valan save Viktor's life? What was in the bowl?

Viktor carefully grabbed the wooden cup and brought it to his nose.

It was medicine. The valan had made him medicine. Viktor's head spun. Yakov had grossly underestimated the valan intellect…

Viktor stared at the bowl for a very long time, because something in the back of his head nagged him that the medicine was very important for a different reason than to show how smart the valans were.

Medicine to ease the pain.

An apology and an explanation.

Compassion.

"Could it be… this valan is a healer?" Viktor said out loud. It would make sense. It would make a lot of sense even. Until the white monster business. But the valan could speak, evidently, so… then Viktor could… talk to it.

The thought felt alien. For as long as Viktor had known, monsters couldn't talk. Period. But maybe they had evolved? It was possible. This was a valan after all, and it had been two hundred years since the world ended up this way. A lot could happen during that time, and Viktor's village wasn't one of those that had once been devoted to science. Actually, Yakov had said those places had gone under long ago because scientists weren't farmers, so they hadn't been able to feed themselves. The villages and cities that did survive were those inhabited with enough people that cared about stocking up on food and how to keep food coming.

The dancer took a careful sip of the medicine. It was sweet. The medicine itself had a familiar, bitter tang to it, but somehow it had been sweetened. When was the last time Viktor had had anything sweet? Well, there was the honey cake the chief had served a few harvests back, but that was only because a band of passing merchants had dared to travel far enough south to collect honey and traded some of it in return of joining the harvest.

Viktor took another sip, savouring the sweetness. The headache –which he had almost forgotten– slowly started to ease, and only then did he realize why Makkachin seemed like he was glaring at Viktor. He had probably been horribly rude to the valan.

"It did apologize," the human started and rolled over to his side. His headache was almost gone, but his body still felt sluggish. Makkachin's tail was wagging again.

* * *

The monster was making food, for two, and it was an odd sort of experience. On one hand, it was exhilarated; it didn't need to eat alone for once, but on the other, it was nerve-wrecking. The monster only had a vague idea of what humans actually ate, so it hesitated about every little ingrediency it was about to put in the pot. This far there was only some water, dried hare-meat and a diced potato in there. It did know however that humans kept goats, and goats gave fat milk that could be turned into a hard cake the monster really liked.

Speaking of goats, Beppo started to bleat irritatingly from her corner and the monster turned.

The dancer stood in the entrance to the tunnel the monster had kept him in for safety, staring incredulously at Beppo.

"You keep livestock?"

The monster sat petrified with surprise for several seconds before; "…livestock?"

The dancer looked up, and the monster wanted to run, it was just not sure about which way, so it ended up rooted on the spot.

"Yeah," Silver said slowly. "You keep animals that gives you food; livestock."

"Oh." The monster was starting to feel really uncomfortable. "Y-yes?"

The dog nudged his human, and the dancer cleared his throat.

"I wanted to… well, I'm sorry for being rude before. I just… I wasn't expecting…" he made a gesture with his arms "this," he finished.

The monster just stared at him. What hadn't Silver expected? But Beppo bleated again and the monster was reminded of his cooking.

"What do humans eat?"

The dancer blinked back. "Excuse me?"

"…excuse you for what?"

Viktor was quickly realizing that even though the valan could speak, there was still a language barrier. "No, I was surprised by the question. Why do you want to know what... what humans eat?"

The valan turned its head towards a little fire going, and that's when Viktor noticed a little pot.

"I'm cooking," the valan spoke in the same careful, hesitant tone as before. "But I don't know what you eat."

Viktor moved forward with care and sat beside the fire. The valan was kneeling by the pot with several different things lined on a flat rock by its side. Viktor recognized a carrot, some dried spices, what appeared to be radishes and… "Is that cheese?"

The valan looked up before slowly turning to stare where Viktor was pointing.

"Cheese?" It drew out the word, confusion clear.

"That white lump to your far left," Viktor clarified.

The valan picked it up and stared at it for a long time before looking up at Viktor. "Cheese?"

It was like talking to a child, and normally Viktor would find the exchange annoying, but when the valan had turned its head he had noticed something. The red skull ended by the valan's ear; like a mask. And if the skull was a mask it would explain why the eye sockets looked empty.

He didn't notice he was leaning forward until he burnt his finger on a hot stone by the fire and hissed, then jerked because the valan jumped away at the sound. Now it sat two meters away, knees and cheese pressed to its chest with its tail wrapped tightly around it. It looked so much like a startled puppy it was almost cute, despite the red skull mask.

This was not a monster, Viktor realized. It was just a gentle creature caught in an unfamiliar situation.

"Sorry I scared you," Viktor smiled. "I just burnt my fingers."

The creature sat still for another moment before its head moved just slightly. "You got burned?" Its tail unwrapped and the valan stood. "I'll go get some ice and slime."

It turned, stopped, then turned back to replace the cheese on its plate before disappearing into another cave. Makkachin followed until the opening where he sat down to loyally wait for the odd creature to return.

Viktor sat still with his burnt finger in his mouth. Glancing into the pot he found something he supposed was soup with meat and some yellowing cubes. The human used the ladle and picked up a dice. It didn't smell like anything, so he carefully put it in his mouth.

"Undercooked potato. Got it," he said to himself and used the ladle to stir the still tasteless soup. One of those spices would probably work wonders. Viktor just didn't recognize any of them, and if the valan could make cheese but didn't know what it was… (correction; he hadn't known what humans called it) then it more than likely had different names for the spices.

Makkachin stood and started wagging his tail a few seconds before the valan returned on quiet feet, one hand cupped and the other holding a tiny basket that seemed to be made of birch-bark. Viktor once again wondered what the valan had done to make his loyal dog so affectionate. Makkachin would even go crazy on Georgi once in a while, and Makkachin loved Georgi.

"Dip your burnt finger in this," the valan said and held out his cupped hand.

It was something colourless, like water, but had a thick consistence. Whatever it was, Viktor didn't think it looked bad, but it smelled strange. And… he shook his head. This far the valan had done nothing that deserved Viktor mistrusting it, aside from not being born a human. So Viktor took a leap of trust and dipped his fingers into the smelly substance before he had a chance to talk himself out of it, and instantly regretted it.

"What _is_ that?" Viktor demanded, thoroughly disgusted by the slimy sensation covering his fingers. He was about to try to shake it off when the valan caught his wrist with his other hand and dipped Viktor's fingers in the little basket full of snow and held them there.

"When burnt, the Little Wings release this substance to sooth the pain," the valan explained gently, confident now. "Many find use of their slime. It's good protection against the sun when it burns."

Viktor promptly decided he didn't want to know any more about it. The slimy feeling on his fingers was enough to make him feel sick, he did not need to imagine this feeling anywhere else on his skin, thank you very much.

"By the way, I tasted the soup. Add the carrot and one of those spices and it should be good."

Once again the valan was silent for a long moment. "Carrot?"

* * *

It had taken some confusion, but the two of them had finally finished both cooking and eating and the monster had gone to his boiling pond to wash the dishes. It had been pleasant, terrifying, exciting and utterly exhausting. The monster wasn't used to this, to have its home peace disturbed, especially by a human. But Silver had accepted the monster, just like the dog had, if not as enthusiastically. At least there had been no outright hostility like the monster had expected.

Returning to the home cave, the monster tilted its head curiously. The human was standing by the wall with his leg pulled up straight.

"That looks uncomfortable," the monster said conversationally as it put away the bowls, pot and spoons from dinner.

"It is," the human admitted and let his leg down. "But if I don't stretch my muscles daily they will go stiff and if I go stiff I can't dance."

The monster nodded in understanding. It was just like its hunting and tracking skills; if they weren't honed they dulled and the monster would go hungry.

"I have seen you," it admitted, quiet, almost ashamed. "You dance beautifully."

The human had turned to support his other leg, and now turned to look over his shoulder. "You've seen me? When? From where?"

The monster fidgeted. "When the mountain and forest fill with terrible noise, the humans are celebrating. I climb the trees and watch from the tops."

"…oh."

Silver was staring at the monster now, and it grabbed its tail to make it stop swishing and give away just how nervous it was.

"Terrible noise, huh? That's what you think of our music?"

Under its mask, the monster made a grimace and its tail escaped its hold. "Your idea of music is hard on all ears but yours, human."

Blue eyes blinked. The human seemed to consider something and let his leg down. "My name is Viktor," he said with a tiny smile. "What's yours?"

The monster stiffened. Name? The human was asking for… his name was… "Vik… tor?"

"Yup! Viktor Nikiforov. That's my name. So, what about you? Do you have a name?"

This was too much! The monster knew Silver's real name! Silver –no, _Viktor_ – was asking for the monster's name.

When was the last time anybody used its name?

"Yuuri."

For some reason, the smile on Viktor's face widened. "It's a little late, but nice to meet you, Yuuri. This here is Makkachin," he bent down and the dog immediately stood by his side, accepting a loving scratch on the neck.

"Makkachin," Yuuri repeated and the dog looked to the monster. "He is very pretty."

"Isn't he!" Viktor exclaimed, and only then seemed to realize there was an echo and lowered his voice. "He's my best friend. Animals are loyal in ways humans aren't. At least the ones who are friendly with us. Inna doesn't like Makkachin at all! She even threatens to cook him!"

Yuuri stood stock still, perfectly overwhelmed by the onslaught of words it couldn't keep up with. It had known humans were a loud race, but had never stood face to face with the loudness. The music had always been a little distant and heard through the moss the monster stuffed its ears with.

"Who… is Inna?"

Viktor sighed, and then he suddenly jerked up. "How long have I been here?"

Yuuri blinked under the mask. "Two nights. The sun is up now, so it is noon."

Feeling he should really have asked that first, Viktor slapped a hand over his face. Two nights, and the last one who saw him was Yura and Viktor had been fighting that white worm. Everyone must think he was dead!

"I need to return."

The monster stood still. It didn't seem stiff, but Viktor got a distinct feeling he had just entered a subject he shouldn't have.

"I will take you back," Yuuri said slowly. "When you sleep."

"What?" Viktor shook his head. "Why? Can't you just show me the way out?"

"So that you can show your hunters the way in?"

Oh. While that hadn't been Viktor's intention, the statement rang true. Once Viktor returned alive the chief would demand an audience, and the moment anyone heard a monster or two lived anywhere near them they would hurry to clean the area.

"Sorry," the human amended. "I think you have saved my life, so I shouldn't put yours at risk. I just don't really remember what happened aside from being attacked."

"Attacked?"

Viktor looked up at the tone the valan used. It wasn't alarmed, it actually sounded more like disbelief. "Yeah. A giant white worm thing suddenly appeared from under the snow and attacked Makkachin and I."

The valan's tail jerked like in agitation. "I don't think so."

"Huh?"

"You are talking about the stone-biter. It was the first time she ever left the mountain, and I haven't figured out why yet, but I know she was scared and lost. I figure you spooked her and she tried to scare you to leave her alone. The one who attacked was you."

Of course Yuuri would take another monster's side, Viktor thought with a huff. The white worm –what did Yuuri call it? Stone-biter?– had clearly attacked him and Yura the moment… Makkachin had started barking…

"Okay, so _maybe_ Makkachin spooked that thing, but I was protecting a child of my village."

Yuuri's tail swished again, then seemed to sag. "I am not human, I want to coexist."

The comment was so out of the blue Viktor's thoughts derailed. He also noticed, with a touch of shame, that he might have challenged the valan without reason. Yakov had always said Viktor had an alpha attitude; that he needed to be better than anyone else. Evidently, Yuuri didn't share that trait.

"So you're going to wait until I fall asleep and carry me out?"

The monster walked forward. "I don't have to wait that long, and if you fall asleep by yourself, you might wake."

A clawed hand closed around Viktor's mouth, and one gasp was all it took to knock him out.

* * *

Viktor sat up straight with a gasp, only to choke on the too cold air. He was outside, in the snow, wrapped securely in Makkachin's limb body and his own furs, and an extra blanket. Grabbing onto the dog and burying his face in his fur, Viktor was relieved to realize the dog was warm and breathing still. Of course, Yuuri had said Makkachin was pretty and Makkachin liked Yuuri, so obviously the valan wouldn't hurt the dog.

It was strange to realize his precious dog was probably safer in a monster's home than in his fiancée's.

Speaking of which, it was completely dark around Viktor, save for the star and moonlight overhead, but he saw yellow firelight between the trees. That meant Yuuri hadn't dropped them off too far from the village.

The dancer grabbed Makkachin to carry the snoozing dog and wrapped that extra blanket around them both. It smelled like goat.

"Suddenly I want to know about valan culture," Viktor muttered to himself, because it seemed quite alike that of humans. Yuuri made cheese, blankets and Viktor would bet his balls the candles in the cave were Yuuri's own craft as well.

In the faint light of the moon, Viktor glanced at the snow around him. Aside from the imprint of his own and Makkachin's bodies, it was untouched. But Viktor hadn't sunken deep into the snow, so he couldn't have been thrown from the trees.

"But Yuuri has probably been living near us for years," Viktor whispered into the cold air. Of course the valan wouldn't leave traces or they would have found him long ago.

Viktor tilted his head a little as he retraced that thought. Yuuri was a male valan, right? Viktor didn't know, and as the cold started to bite his nose, he decided it didn't matter right then. He could ask Yuuri next time they met. Because surely, surely Yuuri wouldn't treat a human for two nights and then never make contact again?


	3. A great plan?

Hello dear readers. For those of you still waiting for OtotW, the next part is finished and currently with my beta. However, I recently got a new job (again, everything happens at once when it happens) and my schedule is... rather irregular. Like today I worked from 5.30 to 12.00, and tomorrow from 11.00 to 17.00, and it's been like that since I started. This means I'm constantly tired, so writing (and painting that I had started up again) is taking a bit of a backseat right now. We are also close to christmas; which means a lot of work for me. Please bear with me as updating will slow down considerably for a while.

But right now; please enjoy the next chapter of this story. If you have any suggestions or ideas I'd love to hear them. If you have ideas for monsters, share those as well.

* * *

 _ **A great plan?**_

Viktor was back. Viktor was alive!

The news spread like wildfire across the village and Yura was throwing on clothes as fast as he could to get to the great hall and the meeting the chief was calling.

His mother grabbed Yura's shoulder and turned him towards her so she could pull the furs more securely around her son's slim body. Veronika Plisetsky, town whore and Yura's mother, usually had a lot of business going during the winter season, but tonight she had been home, and the tension in the house had been high all evening. Nikolai, father and grandfather of the two, came forward with a lantern.

"Tell me what happened when you get back," he told them quietly.

Yura threw his precious grandfather a worried look. The man was old and winters weren't getting any less harsh as the years passed.

"Take the blankets from my bed if you're cold, father," Veronika said, her voice sounding like a plea.

"Yes, yes. Get going you two. It's too late in the evening and I just dressed down."

That's right, Yura too had just dressed down to go to bed when he'd heard the shouting outside. Veronika had opened a window and gotten the news that Viktor was alive and that the chief was calling to a meeting from a man passing by. When Yura had said he wanted to go Veronika had just agreed, pulling her clothes back on so fast she had time to help Yura on with all of his.

Furred up, mother and son opened their door a crack, pressed out and hurriedly closed the door to not let in too much of the winter chill before Veronika pulled at Yura's hand, keeping him close.

She was acting strange, Yura thought. Normally his mother wouldn't touch him, but she had almost been hovering today. And now she held him as if she was afraid.

Just tonight, Yura let it slide.

Nobody took notice of the two as they joined the flow of people hurrying into the great hall and Veronika pulled her son into the shadows near the wall. It was colder her than by the tables, but it was a small price to pay to avoid eyes that might disapprove their presence.

Yura quickly found Viktor by the raised podium where the chief's throne sat. It was hard to see over the distance, but the dancer looked fine. He was _fine_!

Veronika's arms tightened around him, and Yura only then realized he had tried to take a step forward, wanting to run to Viktor and hurt him… no, hug him. Or both! Yura didn't know what he wanted and he didn't know where the impulses came from either. He'd had nightmares since that day and had barely dared to go outside.

Someone threw more wood in the hearth, and in the light, Yura saw Viktor's face clearly.

The man's face was tight, blue eyes cold as they glared at the chief who just turned and walked up the podium to stand in front of his throne.

"My friends; this is a good night! One of our strong young men has returned to us, alive and well. Unfortunately, he also brings horrible news. Viktor. Share your story with your kin!"

Yura frowned in confusion when Viktor still glared at their leader in pure anger. It wasn't like Yura was fond of the chief himself, but he had never seen anyone else sharing his misgivings.

The dancer slowly stepped forward, standing on the first step towards the throne and turned his back towards the chief, facing the crowd.

"As you have been informed, there was a monster in the forest three nights ago. That monster is gone. I was wounded and lost consciousness, but I woke up in a cave where my wounds had been treated."

A nervous hiss of whispers filled the hall.

"I never found who had saved me, and I didn't dare explore the cave I was in, but after I fell asleep today, I woke up back outside in the snow, only a hundred meters from the village and with no traces around me."

From the chief's other side, Georgi stepped forward.

"It's true," he spoke clearly. "Mila and myself checked Viktor's tracks. The imprint of his body starts in the middle of nowhere."

Another wave of hisses, and this time the tone was frightened.

Yura just stared at Viktor. He was lying. Yura was sure Viktor was lying. There was no way that white worm was gone. If Viktor had killed it the trackers would have found it! And how could Viktor know the worm was gone if he hadn't dared explore the cave?

"This is truly worrisome," the chief spoke. "The first monster might be gone, but at least there is a witness whose description matches Viktor's. However, there seem to be a monster out there we don't know what it is."

From his mother's arms, Yura watched Viktor's face darken.

"We are all happy you have returned to us, Viktor," the chief went on. "I only wish you had caught a glimpse of this unknown creature. At least then we'd know what we're up against, or better yet, know how to get rid of it. I also wish I could trust you. You and your dog will be locked up in here, away from the villagers, until I can confirm this unknown monster hasn't somehow used you to get to us. Infected your body or mind."

Veronika gasped along with everyone else. Yura was frozen in shock. Viktor would be locked away? For what? He looked fine! Aside from the unusual cold look on his face he still looked like the dancer the whole village was in love with!

Viktor didn't protest though, just nodded and followed two men to a door at the back, both of them careful not to touch the dancer. The dog must have already been in the confinement because Yura could neither see nor hear it.

Beside the chief, Georgi looked just as angry as Viktor had. Mila didn't look too happy either. Yura didn't have time to wonder why before his mother started to carefully pull him with her towards the exit. The chief was talking again, about preparations and security and never leave the village.

It made Yura feel restrained, like an animal.

They made it out and Veronika was walking quickly through the cleared paths back to their house. Her breath was a thick mist in the icy air and her hands grabbed Yura's painfully hard.

"You're hurting me," the boy finally piqued up when it felt like his fingers were going to snap.

The whore jerked at the sound of his voice, as if she had forgotten about him. Then she suddenly fell to her knees and pulled Yura tight against her chest.

He could feel her trembling. "It's still there."

The son blinked. "What? Mother?"

She jerked back and hastily looked around. "Not out here. When we get home." And so Veronika got back up and almost ran the rest of the way home. Yura did run, just to keep pace.

* * *

The next morning, Yura sat under the roof of his home, packed into a blanket with his cat Potya who was poking and headbutting Yura's arms and chest to make him move into a position so she could get comfortable. Eventually she settled down with a huff.

There was a monster in the mountain. Veronika had revealed the night before how she had once left the village during the summer for a midnight tryst with the man she had loved. They had met some ways up the mountain, in a cavemouth. But when she had arrived, and the man who had been waiting for her turned, Veronika had seen glowing eyes behind him and a terrifying scream had filled the air.

Yura scratched Potya's thick fur. His mother and the chief were both terrified of the monsters. Everyone in the village were afraid, even though nothing had actually happened aside from a number of hunters never coming back. Viktor, Georgi and Mila were the only ones who had actually been up close and personal with monsters. Now Viktor, the village's strongest fighter, had been locked away.

Nothing moved outside the window besides humans and smoke and the snow in the wind.

Inside Yura's head, a thought started to take form. Everyone was afraid. Nobody but Viktor knew what this unknown creature was, but for some reason he had lied and said he had never seen it.

And everyone was afraid of the unknown.

The boy hunched over Potya, burying his face in her fur. He thought of the men of the village who looked at him the same way they looked at his mother. He thought of the chief who had forbidden him to train so he could join the guard.

He shivered and felt the cat in his arms start to purr in earnest, feeling his distress. Her rough tongue licked Yura's temple.

The teen thought of Mila, the girl who made moves on him and touched him where he didn't want anyone's hands and who seemed to think Yura was crazy about her.

The chief always looked at Yura with those eyes and licking his lips, which always made Yura run away and hide in whatever nook he could find.

A week ago a married woman had almost managed to grab his arm, but he had caught her dark eyes and managed to flee.

All those people were afraid now. Afraid of something unknown hiding out there.

Viktor had said he had been in a cave. Veronika had said she had seen those eyes inside a cave in the southern mountain.

Yura's grandfather had a big knife hidden behind a chest by the door.

* * *

It was the time of the year when the sun didn't rise, but there was still a gentle brightening of the sky in the south in the middle of the day. Telling the time was difficult during the dark months and every home had to produce its own electricity so light was on and off at random intervals everywhere. Yura however knew it was evening when his mother left to warm some lonely man or married couple's bed. So tonight Yura was left alone with his grandfather.

The old man had been eyeing Yura all day, and had asked at the start of the dinner; "You're not planning an attempt to free Nikiforov I hope?"

Yura had jumped guiltily but denied it before shovelling food into his mouth, feeling those knowing, green eyes on him.

"Don't do anything foolish, boy," Nikolai had said at last.

Yura had said nothing, but now he was silently dressing himself for the cold. Potya had curled into the old man's side and was still purring softly, and Yura hoped his grandfather wouldn't miss his body heat for a while. And he hoped Potya would be enough to keep Nikolai warm. It was way too cold to sleep separately, and Nikolai was getting old and often complained about the chill in his old bones. So Yura put a few extra logs on the fire at the heart of their house, crept over to the door and quietly, carefully, dug the big knife out of the chest by the door before he quickly left.

Outside the snow was cleared in pathways between the houses all around the village. The only light came from a small lighthouse at the town square. There were also a few guards out, but they were posted at the borders. It was easy for little Yura to melt into the shadows, slip out of town and be on his way through the snow towards the mountain.

An hour later the young teen had reached the mountain, and the perfect idea to get recognition by the villagers was looking less perfect by the minute. The darkness was almost compact and the thin moon offered little to no light. He knew the land though and knew he was at the mountain. Now he only needed to find a cave and the monster inside, kill it and bring the head back to the village.

It had sounded like a very good idea when he planned it.

A howling sound echoed in the darkness and Yura froze. He pressed his lithe body in between two cold rocks and held Nikolai's knife tightly with both hands.

The howling echoed again, and this time Yura tilted his head as it sounded awfully familiar.

It was the wind. Yura had heard the wind howl around the mountain all his life, but now, in the dark night on his way to fight a monster, it sounded a lot more menacing than it had ever done before. He couldn't even find reassurance in knowing it was only the wind making sounds around the frozen rocks of the mountain, the fear was still gripping Yura's young heart tightly. But it wouldn't stop him. He had gotten this far already!

Yura carefully crawled out, wincing at the crunch of the snow under his movements. From here the teen had to rely on the edge of dark and the light of the snow. He kept to the edges where he was more likely to find holds to pull himself up. He didn't know for how long he was climbing, but the cold was really starting to get to him, his fingers long since numb, when he slipped… and then the ground opened and swallowed him.

Yura was too frightened to even scream. He tried to grab the walls in the passage he was slipping through, tried to stop his fall, or to make whatever had swallowed him spit him back out.

He collided with something soft and what felt like strong arms wrapped around Yura's trembling body.

Warm brown eyes looked down at him in a dim, yellow light. Yura was still too scared to understand what had happened, but those eyes and the arms holding him tight felt safe enough that Yura wrapped his arms around this person.

"Hold on tight, please. The water will burn you," a voice spoke in Yura's ear, and only now did he realize how unpleasantly hot it was in the room and in his thick furs. If this person hadn't caught him, Yura would have fallen into a pond of milky white water that was so hot it filled the cave with steam.

The water splashed gently as the person carefully walked around the edges of the pond towards a cliff of sorts. The person readjusted Yura in their arms, making sure to keep his body above the waterline. Yura helped as much as he could. The contrast from the numbing cold outside to the suffocating heat in here was painful as he felt his face swell until his skin almost burst.

As soon as he was placed on dry rock, Yura shredded his furs to relieve the heat and turned to the one who had caught him.

The person had a tail. And feet with four toes and long talons. The person was busy wrapping a cloth around their midsection.

"You're a…"

Brown eyes turned to look at Yura again. They were wide and almond-shaped, and the person had rounded cheeks and a nose like a cat. That is all Yura saw before the face was covered with a mask of a red skull with long fangs.

The person– no, the monster kneeled by the water and started to wring out its dark mane of hair. Water was still dripping down honey-coloured skin. It gathered some more fabric that was probably its clothes before it stood.

"The heat in here isn't good for you when you've been out in the cold. Please come," the monster said and motioned for Yura to follow it.

Its hands had five fingers with sharp claws.

The world was spinning.

* * *

Yura awoke with a gasp, disoriented and scared.

The first thing he saw was a goat that bleated at him with an unimpressed face.

He was in a cave lit by a few candles placed in little alcoves at odd heights. The fascinating thing was that the alcoves had been painted white so the light reflected and made the room quite bright. It was warm, but not suffocating, and Yura found his clothes… ALL of his clothes beside him and quickly checked himself.

Whatever Yura was wearing, it was soft and long, like a night shirt, and shifting in different blue hues. Blue! Nobody in the village, or even anyone passing through that Yura could remember, had ever worn blue! Now that he found himself wearing it, Yura started wondering why they didn't colour their cloths blue. Of course he knew how to make clothes; the whole village had to help with that during the spring when the sheep and goats shredded their winter furs.

The goat harshly nudged Yura's feet and the boy hastily pulled his legs up and wrapped his arms around them.

That's right, he'd fallen into a monster's den. What now? But Viktor had come back and he had lied about ever seeing the monster.

Because there was only one, right?

The goat started bleating in earnest, and the red skull mask appeared in the opening behind the animal.

"Thank you, Beppo," the monster said.

There it was again; that gentle tone that had made Yura feel so safe before.

The goat threw with its head and stomped the ground before trotting out of the cave.

"I'm sorry. Beppo doesn't like it when I bring strangers into her home."

"Her home?" Yura blurted out before he could stop himself.

Despite the mask, Yura got the distinct feeling the monster was smiling. "Yes. She lives here, so from Beppo's point of view, this is her home. I just share it with her."

The teen nodded slowly. Not that it made sense, but there really wasn't anything to say. He continued to stare as the monster kneeled beside the bed Yura had rested on.

"I couldn't find any wounds on you besides some scrapes from your trip through the vent. How are you feeling?"

This was… wrong. Yura frowned at the pelt covering his legs, his clothes neatly folded beside him and the blue dress he was wearing.

"I came to kill you," the teen growled.

The monster sat still. It didn't tense up or ready its claws or whipped with its tail or anything.

Then it said with a surprised voice; "Alone?"

"Yes! I brought a knife and everything and was looking for a cave so I could sneak up on you and kill you!"

"In the dark?" the monster asked with a tilted head.

Well, the monster didn't seem overly worried about Yura's expedition to murder it. But it did have the upper hand, what with all the claws and the fact Yura still remembered the feeling of strong arms easily carrying him over steaming hot water. It still wasn't fair!

"When you said you brought a knife, did you mean that one?" the monster suddenly spoke and pointed with a clawed finger at something beside Yura's clothes that he hadn't noticed. It was a package of leather, and it held the knife he had taken from his grandfather's chest. Broken in two.

"Where did you…?" Yura started.

"I went out to cover your tracks, but you had been good at not making a lot."

That was praise. Yura felt his chest warm because that was honest to God praise, and not about his looks. For once.

"I came to kill you," Yura said again, trying to squish the irrational happiness he felt. "Viktor came back and lied about not having seen you, so I came to kill you so I can join the guard."

There was a long silence. The human felt the monster study him, but where other people's looks felt like ants trying to eat into his skin, the monster's gaze and silence felt thoughtful.

"Were you told I was the only one living here?"

Yura slowly looked up. "No? Viktor said he never saw a monster beside the big white caterpillar that attacked us the day he disappeared."

This time the monster let out a soft huff and its tail jerked. "Stone-biters are blind, but their hearing is good. The white mother was frightened by you and tried to scare you away."

"Stone…? Mother?" Yura knew exactly how a woman becomes a mother. So if that white worm was a mother, there had to be a father as well, and if there were parents there were also a batch of babies. That meant there were clearly more than one monster around.

And a goat.

"Stone-biters eat minerals," the monster beside him explained. "They can't digest any sort of meat."

"Oh." Yura blushed as he realized his thoughts must have shown on his face. "Stone-biters…" he mumbled slowly to himself. Then he looked up at the monster beside him, curiosity getting the better of him. "What are you?"

The red mask tilted a little to the left. "What am I?"

"Yes. You just said the white caterpillar is a stone-biter. That's a name for the whole race, right? But you're not like it, so what do you call your kind?"

"…Katsu," the monster said carefully. "But you humans have a different name for us that I am unaware of."

"Me too," Yura said. "I don't know anything about monsters, except that the chief says all of you are out to kill us humans."

"Your chief is a fool," the katsu huffed indignantly. "There are more monsters than humans that live here. You are a very peculiar species; coexisting doesn't appear to be in your nature."

Yura believed that too. They kept cats and dogs and goats, all animals with a lot of fur that could stand the murderous cold of the winters. All of those animals had been friends of humans since long before the world became the way it was now.

The human teen looked carefully and with increasing curiosity at the katsu. It was hard to say what gender it was from its voice. The chest was flat, but Potya's breasts were also flat unless she was carrying kittens, so that didn't really mean anything. The red mask was also interesting, as in why the monster was wearing it. And the monster had taken care of Yura, made sure he wasn't hurt.

It was so strange. Here he was; in a monster's den, and he felt safer than he ever had in his own village.

"Are you a male katsu?" Yura wondered curiously.

"Katsu-Ki," the monster nodded and its tail swayed up high, just like Potya's when she was pleased. "I have to be Ki, male, during winters. I will slip back into Don in the summer."

The human blinked. "What's a Don?"

"Female."

A long, long silence followed as Yura tried to understand exactly what that meant. He couldn't say he had a lot of success because the answer he came up with sounded one; impossible, and two; absolutely horrifying.

"Do you have a name?"

Yura jerked as he was pulled out of a half-formed thought he was very thankful not to have finished. "I'm… Yurachek. But everyone just calls me Yura."

The katsu nodded once, the tip of its tail moving. "Yura-kun."

"What does that mean?" the teen asked.

Once again, it felt like the monster smiled. "Young Yura, because you appear very young to me."

"I am thirteen summers!" the boy said and puffed out his chest.

"I am twenty winters," the monster answered.

Just then there was an echo of an angrily bleating goat, followed by crashing sounds as if the goat was fighting.

The monster's pointed ears twitched and his tail jerked a little, but otherwise he remained calm.

"What's happening?" Yura whispered. He had to remember he was in a monster's den. No matter how friendly and gentle Katsuki seemed, there were other monsters out there.

"Smells like an Oni sneaked in. They try to milk Beppo and she doesn't like that, so she chases them away."

Yura had seen bucks fight and knew it was a bad idea to get in the way of those hard heads and horns. The animal that had been there when he awoke didn't seem overly friendly either. The boy suddenly got the feeling that the goat, an animal Yura was very familiar with, was bullying the monsters living here. Monsters that everyone in the human village were so insanely afraid of; bullied by a goat… Yura could just imagine the reactions he'd get if he ever told anyone that theory.

"Your family must be worried," Katsuki suddenly spoke softly, like he was saddened. "You should change back into your own clothes, then I'll take you back."

Back to where his family lived. Back to a mother that spent her nights with a dick thrusting into her and people waiting for Yura to spread his legs for them. Back to a chief who was insane.

"I don't want to," Yura mumbled. "I came to kill you and bring back your head, so that I could prove I'm strong too."

"Is that the only way?"

Yura looked up into the red mask's dark eyes, then looked away. He didn't know.

They sat in silence for a long time. The sounds of the fighting goat subsided.

"Figure it out."

"Huh?" Yura looked up at the monster beside him with disbelief, because his voice wasn't gentle anymore.

"Figure out another way to prove to your people you are strong, for I will not let you kill me or anyone else who lives here. You don't eat or otherwise make use of our bodies, so I see no reason to give up my life for you."

The human boy blinked. "We can eat you?"

"That is how coexisting works; eat and be eaten, or produce something someone else eats."

As wrong as that sounded to Yura, Katsuki spoke as if it was completely natural to think that way. It also made the boy wonder if humans had actually ever tried to eat a monster. Viktor, Georgi and Mila only ever spoke of the attributes of monsters in terms of danger levels. But Katsuki…

For the second time in less than a day, a crazy idea formed in Yura's little head.

"Hey, can… can you teach me? Which monsters area edible?"

The katsu tilted his head curiously. "I am not human, and I don't eat all the same things you do."

"Then I'll taste them! If you let me hunt with you, and teach me all about them, then… then I can coexist too!"

The katsu sat straight and stared at Yura. There was a light reflection in the hollow eyes of the mask, and the boy felt his pulse quicken.

"Will your people allow that?" the katsu spoke carefully.

"No," Yura answered sourly. "The chief doesn't want me to be anything but beautiful and to put his dick inside me, that's why he forbade Viktor to train me."

Katsuki jerked up in surprise. "Can humans change sex too?!"

"HELL NO!" Yura shrieked, trying to hide his body out of habit.

"Then why?"

"Because the chief is a disgusting piece of shit, and many of the men in the village doesn't care as long as it's a warm body with a hole they can stick it up in. It doesn't need to be a woman they can have children with."

The katsu's hands had until now been resting on his lap. Now they fell down to his sides. Then he suddenly shuddered. "My father told me to never try to eat a human. Now I understand why."

"Yes, you'd probably get sick and die," Yura blurted out long before he realized it was probably not a compliment, to either of them.


	4. Another encounter

Hello my dear readers. I know this story isn't in very high demand, but it's the one I managed to write a chapter for first. Do you even realize how difficult it is to write a scene full of Russian midwinter cold when you're about to melt from the afternoon heat?

Anyway, I want to tell you all something. You may or may not know that in october last year I managed to finally score a new job. Now I'm quitting. Walking away because I simply can't take the bullying anymore. Not the mean words/cold treatment way, but the "we're friends so you'll do this for me" way. My workload is so heavy and there is no possible way I can handle it all, but any protest I try to voice is met by; "but you're so good at this, surely you can do this as well." I've spent my days trying to fight for myself, to no avail at all. And when I make a mistake, I'm worse than shit, but I still have to do everything and have no choice but to do them.

So as you can see, I haven't been very well lately. Thank God for my boyfriend, who lives further north, asked me to move in with him and look for a new job closer to his home. I'm still exhausted to the core, but now that I finally see an end to this torture, I'm finding the will to write again.

God bless all of you who have put this story on their favourite/alert lists and all of you who have reviewed. I love you all!

* * *

 _ **Another encounter**_

Yuuri carefully jumped from tree to tree in the darkness with the sleeping Yura-kun secured on his back. Such a strange encounter. He had been relaxing in the hot spring after his meal when he'd heard strange noises from the vent. It was lucky for Yura-kun Yuuri had been there to catch him. If the boy had landed in the hot water he might have died.

The katsu had also learnt that human children were more honest and curious than the grown ones. But Yuuri also knew humans were the one species he would never figure out, so he had stopped trying. Learning their language however was a good way to protect himself and everyone else living in the mountain and forest.

The human village appeared between the trees and Yuuri slowed. He had spied on them for years and knew who lived where. He hoped to be able to return Yura-kun to his home and sneak back to the mountain. Or he could hope Yura-kun awoke without a noise and he could make it home on his own.

A shadow slipping around the back of the biggest house caught Yuuri's eye and he stopped. He had good eyes and could see fairly well even with the faint starlight, that is why he recognized the human as the one who Silver– Viktor, hung out with the most.

Viktor's friend looked around, then leaned against the wall.

How very odd. The position of the moon said it was past midnight, and while there were always guards around the village, they seldom stood still unless they were in groups. So why would this one, who Yuuri knew was a dancer and hunter like Viktor, be standing still and alone?

But it was a perfect chance, if Yuuri could only jump onto the house's roof he could drop Yura-kun straight into that man's arms.

With the same care as a prey that moves inches in front of a lightly sleeping predator, Yuuri moved between the branches towards one that would put the roof of the house between Yuuri and Viktor's hunter friend, hoping no one would come from the other way. Some people were very keen on catching movements and the torches around the village spread enough light Yuuri would definitely be caught if anybody thought to look up. Still, the trek was made more difficult with the weight of Yura-kun on the monster's back. The branches bent more and the trees groaned a little.

This was the closest to the human village Yuuri had actually ever gone. He was safely out of sight from Viktor's hunter friend, but the fright was starting to get to the monster, and Yura-kun's breathing was starting to change, indicating he would wake in only a minute.

* * *

Viktor was frozen, bored out of his mind and Makkachin lay out of reach, greatly ashamed to have peed against the snowy wall when Viktor had spent so much time training him to absolutely not pee inside. Consistency was important in dog training, so even though Viktor couldn't exactly punish the big dog for not being able to hold it anymore, he could try to teach him to pee in the bucket Viktor had for his own waste.

It didn't help right now though because poor Makkachin was still in a state of existential crisis-dog version.

He heard footsteps in the snow outside, and frowned in confusion as they stopped. It had sounded like a single person. Even Makkachin perked a little.

"Viktor. You alive?"

"Georgi," the dancer breathed. "I could use some freedom, and Makkachin could use a long walk, but we live. I'm not stupid enough to sit still in here."

"I've been trying to talk to the chief. There is no way to prove you or Makkachin has been tampered with and that we don't know of a monster that can actually do anything like what he accused you for."

Viktor thought of coming out to his best friend, to tell him a talking valan was hiding in the mountains. He trusted Georgi. But at the same time, the other man was scarred by earlier confrontations with those monsters. Yuuri seemed to be different from those, but Viktor realized it would take a lot to convince Georgi of that.

"Why would you lie?"

The imprisoned dancer looked up at the window, an opening in the wall high above his head that let in both snow and the cold. Of course Georgi would have noticed.

He was about to answer when there was suddenly a thud and scraping noise against the edge of the roof.

"What was that?" Georgi's voice hissed outside.

"It wasn't me," Viktor hissed back, mind racing. Could he have misjudged Yuuri after all? Was the village under attack?

Makkachin was on his feet, ears and nose twisting and tail high. He gave his owner a hopeful face.

Then there was a sudden cry outside, a surprised call from Georgi and then Viktor heard Yura start screaming at the top of his lungs.

"What's happening?" Viktor yelled right before even more voices joined the chaos outside while Yura's voice quickly quietened.

Outside, Georgi watched Yura run away like a startled rat as a group of guards was attracted to the scene.

"What was the whore boy doing here?" Boris, one of the patrol captains, demanded.

Georgi growled. "I don't know, but he fell from the roof."

"The roof? What would that boy be doing on the roof?" Boris suddenly looked more closely at the brunette dancer. "And what are you doing here alone?"

"With the whore boy?" one of the other guards cut in with a knowing tilt to his lip.

Georgi backed away from the wall to look up. He figured that if Yura had really climbed to the roof, there would be a chunk of snow missing from the edge above where he'd been standing. But to his surprise, the snow looked untouched.

"I did hear a sound before. I'll climb to the roof and look for tracks."

The other guards nodded, but looked as if they were just humouring him. Yura was the son of the whore and Georgi knew what "alone with a whore" translated to in everybody's minds, but that didn't bother him quite as much as the strange scraping noise before. Viktor had fought a monster he had never seen before, something had taken care of him and then he had appeared without a single trace in the snow around him. In Georgi's mind that translated into a very crafty monster.

He used a barrel to jump up and grab the edge of the roof. Hurling himself up, Georgi found exactly what he didn't want to find; untouched snow. He carefully made his way to the top, just to make sure, but nothing had touched the snow on this roof since it landed here.

"Found anything?" Boris asked once he was back. He had a slight knowing smirk on his lip, but it died when he took in Georgi's grim face.

"Just like when we went to look for traces around where Viktor woke up. The snow is untouched."

The men looked at each other.

"Go check on Viktor," Boris ordered two of his men.

The silver-haired dancer stood under the window, waiting, hoping for someone to come and tell him what had happened. He had heard someone climb the roof, supposedly Georgi since he was the only one agile enough for the task, but otherwise couldn't make out much.

He heard voices and footsteps outside his cell right before the door to his cold prison flew open. Three men rushed in, weapons in hand, and stopped only because Makkachin started barking and snapping at them.

"You're still here?" one of the men asked stupidly.

Viktor kept his hands up. "Why wouldn't I be?"

They all looked carefully at each other before Georgi and Boris also walked inside.

"You heard a noise from the roof before Yura appeared?" Georgi asked.

Viktor's eyebrows rose in confusion. "Yes."

"Did Makkachin get alarmed?"

At this, the blue-eyed dancer exchanged a look with his loyal dog, who had now settled down somewhat, but still sat between the guards and his human.

"He jumped to attention, but otherwise nothing."

Boris looked at the dog. "If a monster had entered the village, how would he react?"

"Probably by attacking the monster," Viktor said honestly, 'with kisses if it's Yuuri,' he added privately, not quite over the fact the valan had won Makkachin over.

Boris made a face somewhere between confused and grim.

"What did you find on the roof?" Viktor asked Georgi.

The brunette looked him dead in the eye. "Nothing."

There was a message in the word. Something Viktor was supposed to understand, but it took several seconds to connect. They had both heard a noise that definitely came from the roof over Viktor's head, but the evidence had been erased.

It was definitely Yuuri. For some reason Yuuri had come to the village. There was just one thing that didn't add up.

"So… where did Yura come from?"

Georgi let out a deep, frustrated groan. "No idea. He fell from above, from the roof I'd say, but there wasn't a single trace of him up there."

One of the other guards spoke up. "You think something tried to spirit him away?"

A hush fell over the men. In this world that had gone pear-shaped and humans no longer knew everything about it, events like these easily triggered ghost stories.

Boris straightened up and turned to his men. "Warn the other patrols, search the village and count the villagers and their cattle. Someone go find Yurachek and make sure he's unharmed. Viktor will stay here for the moment."

"How long will the moment be?" Viktor hurried to ask before anyone left. The excitement had distracted him for a while, but the cold was still creeping into his bones. If he got much colder he was certain do die.

Boris looked around the room. There wasn't much space for the dancer to move around to keep warm and the window did him no favours. Boris had always liked Viktor, and even though the chief thought a monster might use the silver-haired dancer to get into the village, Boris saw no need for him to be locked up in a place without warmth. It was like he was being sneakily executed rather than held captive.

He turned to Georgi. "Bring some fire and a heated coat."

Viktor could have kissed the other man, and he probably would have if his face wasn't made up of a bushy beard.

"Thank you, Boris," he said instead, with feeling.

Georgi was already out of the room to follow the order, his mind spinning and a possibility growing from the questions. When he returned to Viktor with the firewood and coat, and a hot drink, curtsey of Viktor's fiancée, he felt cold inside.

Viktor didn't seem to notice as he exchanged his coat for the warmed one and sipped the drink as Georgi got the fire started with Makkachin just a little too close.

When the wood finally started catching fire, Viktor sat down by it with Makkachin on his legs and Georgi at his back, wrapping Viktor in his arms to further up his heat. Viktor said nothing about it as this was the most common way for anyone in the village to stay warm.

"What if there is a third one."

Viktor looked up. "What?"

Georgi placed his chin on Viktor's shoulder, staring into the flames with a grim expression.

"You said you woke up in a cave with your wounds treated. I still don't understand that part, mind you. But suddenly you were taken away from the cave while you slept and appeared without any kind of tracks around you. Yura should have been asleep in his own home by the time he dropped on my head… what if something really is trying to spirit us away?"

Viktor was silent as he thought. He knew Georgi was wrong, that this was just Yuuri being way more crafty than the humans could keep up with. But Yuuri wasn't a threat, of that Viktor was certain, and Georgi's theory, while incorrect, would hopefully let the valan slip under the radar.

"Maybe," he said at length. "It's not impossible, I suppose. I mean, we know so little about the world these days."

Georgi grunted unhappily and hugged Viktor a little tighter. Then he suddenly lifted his chin.

"The reason the monster dropped both you and Yura, it must be because you woke up. For whatever reason, maybe it can only carry a sleeping person."

"In fear of detection," Viktor finished with a nod. Good thing this was just a mind-monster Georgi created, because the thought of it actually had Viktor a little nervous.

The brunette nodded and rubbed Viktor's arms as he thought. "I'll keep my eyes open and tell the other patrols they need to peek at the sky and over the roofs once in a while. We can't burden the people more than the situation already does."

"We're hardy people, Georgi," Viktor smiled.

"Doesn't mean we have to make life even harder. I need to leave."

"Okay. Tell Inna thank you for the tea."

Georgi just smiled and left. He suddenly wasn't as worried about this new monster. People normally woke up by themselves when the warmth of their beds disappeared, and if that was all it took for the monster to drop them, they were somewhat safe.

Left alone in his cold isolation once again, Viktor let out a deep sigh, watching the cloud his breath formed. He had lied again. He hadn't had a problem lying to the chief, but lying to his best friend physically hurt. It would have been so much better if Georgi hadn't hated valans specifically. Though Viktor could hardly say he didn't share the resentment. After all; it was a valan that had once killed his father. Georgi had watched it happen, but Viktor had been occupied and only seen the result.

The memory of his father's torn up corpse filled him with cold anger and nausea. He had lied to Georgi that one of those monsters were hiding in the mountain, and he was unable to stop the feelings of resentment towards Yuuri, even though the valan was innocent in this.

"I'm sorry, Georgi. Yuuri," he said out loud.

"What for?"

Makkachin and Viktor both flew off the ground in fright. The room was still as empty as it should be, the snow showing only the marks of Makkachin and Viktor himself.

In the barred window, a dark hand suddenly appeared, from above, slowly reaching down until it could support a weight against the bottom of the window frame.

Without thinking, Viktor leaped onto the wall and grabbed the bars to be able to take a proper look at what exactly was happening.

Yuuri's mask was indeed above the window, hanging upside down… Viktor craned his neck. The outcropping. Somehow, Yuuri must have erased his tracks in the snow on the roof and hidden in the deepest shadow right under the outcropping underneath the roof. There was very little light on this side, seeing as it was facing the forest rather than the village.

The valan reached down with his other hand to support himself as he lowered his face so he could look straight at Viktor. The red mask looked dull in the darkness, and even though he knew it was Yuuri, it still sent chills down Viktor's spine.

"What are you sorry for?"

He must have heard, Viktor realized as he saw Yuuri's ears twitch. They were long, sitting on each side of his head like human ears, but there was no doubt valans' hearing was better than humans.

"A lot of things," Viktor answered the question at last. He looked at Yuuri sadly.

Yuuri looked inside the room. He knew it wasn't good for humans to be exposed to the cold for too long, and Viktor was sitting here with a window without shutters. He had heard the conversation before, but couldn't understand much of it.

"Why are you in here?"

Viktor snorted. "Our leader locked me and Makkachin inside here in fear we would bring more monsters to the village. I told them all I had awoken in a cave with my wounds treated, but that I had never seen a monster."

Which was essentially true, depending on how you looked at it. Viktor didn't really count Yuuri, a valan healer, as a monster.

"Are you punished?"

The monster wasn't a stranger to punishment of any kind. His parents had thought it was the perfect way to teach their children what was wrong and right.

"I guess you could say that, though I haven't done anything wrong," the human muttered.

"Are you cold?"

"A little. My friend was just here with a warmer coat and lit a fire for me. And I have Makkachin."

Yuuri looked at the smile on Silver's face. It looked strained, and his nose and ears had turned white. The monster knew those were signs frostbite. He had seen enough humans without ears and noses, but those tended to look much older than Viktor was.

"Are you punished because you are protecting me?"

Viktor looked up into the holes of the valan's mask. Yuuri's voice sounded soft and sad. Obviously he was putting two and two together despite Viktor's best effort to derail the truth a little.

"It's not your fault," he said softly. "You're innocent, but my tribe will definitely hunt you down if they knew you live so close. My… my friend watched… his father get killed by your race. You are the one kind of… monster… that we fear more than any other."

There was that pause again as Yuuri processed the information. Then he started to move again, slowly, lowering and twisting his body without a sound. Viktor watched as a clawed foot reached down and grabbed the edge of the window. The valan moved very smoothly, without any kind of jerking. It made Viktor realize that despite Yuuri not being a threat, he was still a hunter to the very tips of his claws.

Another clawed foot came down as Yuuri was turning around to face the forest instead, hands and feet gripping the bars for support. Viktor had always thought Valans only had three toes, but now, with the appendages right in front of his nose, he realized there was one more toe at the back of the foot, with a much more crooked talon, which Yuuri used to hook onto the window and press his back against the bars.

That explained how the valan could climb so well. How all of them could probably climb like squirrels. It explained how the valans that had ambushed Yakov's troop before he left Viktor in this village had hidden.

A long tail made it through the bars and Viktor ducked under it. He couldn't see very well, but the tail didn't seem to have either scales or hair, save for the tuft at the very tip. He didn't dare touch it either in fear of crossing some boundary, and his arms were getting really tired hanging onto the window.

Yuuri slipped a hand into a small pouch that hung from a belt around his hips. He came up with a few dark pills and held them out to Viktor.

"They will keep you warm for a while, but only eat one at a time," the valan said.

He really was a healer, Viktor thought as he accepted the pills and dropped to the floor.

Yuuri tensed and leaped from the window, then he was gone.

Makkachin headbutted Viktor roughly so that he dropped one of the pills. The dog went for it, but quickly jerked back. He sneezed twice, and the look he gave Viktor clearly spelled out; "just what _is_ that stuff?"

It wasn't the first time Viktor wished his nose was as sensitive as the dog's. Blind trust was a free ticket to death, but Yuuri had yet to show a single trait that said he was hostile.

And Viktor still vividly remembered the slime. It had healed the burn, but it hadn't been pleasant.

"These will keep me warm, huh?" Viktor spoke out loud. The pills looked innocent, even as Viktor held them up in the light of the fire. Makkachin looked at him as if to say; "you're not eating that, right?"

Taking another leap of faith, Viktor carefully scraped his tooth against the pill.

It was like biting into fire. Viktor flew up and stuffed a handful of snow into his mouth as he quickly shed his coat as sweat started to break out.

"Yup, those will keep me warm," Viktor gasped as his nose and ears started burning unpleasantly. "I don't even want to know what this is."


	5. Town gathering

Hello. Does anyone remember this story? I just did. Had almost forgotten the plot ._. I'm still trying to figure out where to go from here, or rather, how to go where I want it to. Thus far I don't have too many monsters beside Yuuri and the Stone Biter. The Little Wings and Oni will make an appearance later, but I need at least two more. So I thought, if any of you, my dear readers, has created a monster that does or doesn't eat meat and can survive in really cold climate, why don't you PM me? Or if you want to inspire this story in some other way, I'm all ears (or... well, mostly ears, I'm not changing the course of the story, just need some elements to push it forward)

Happy reading :D

* * *

 _ **Town gathering**_

Yura tore up the door and slammed it shut behind him, not caring if he woke anyone up as he pressed his back against the door, heart still in his throat after the fright of suddenly being back in the village.

Had he dreamt the whole thing? Why had he been outside? Why had he suddenly been falling through the air? What had happened to Katsuki?

"Yura!"

The boy gasped and pressed back harder against the door, until he saw his grandfather's weathered face under the light of a lantern.

"Yura, did you go outside? Where have you been? What are you wearing?"

Taking a few calming breaths, Yura slowly looked down at himself. Closest to his skin he could feel his own clothes, but over them he wore a woven pelt that was not his own and smelt like goat and fire.

The Katsuki. The last thing Yura remembered was the monster gently caressing his face and telling him to sleep. But how was he supposed to explain that to his grandfather?

More importantly; how was he going to return to Katsuki?

"Yura?"

His grandfather came closer to take a better look at Yura's face. When he did, his face showed surprise and relief. He sighed and wrapped his arms tightly around Yura.

"Boy, for a second I thought someone had taken you and now you came back running after…"

He didn't need to finish the sentence. Yura returned his grandfather's tight embrace, because who knew if that wasn't possible? His mother was the only whore in the village, as understandably no other woman wanted that kind of life and no family wanted their daughters ending up like Veronica.

Veronica wasn't even a whore by choice. It was the price she payed for medicine to her father and son after her only Yak had died and she could no longer pay in fur and milk. So Yura couldn't hate his mother. It was however a very solid reason to hate the rest of the village.

His grandfather was safe though, too old for anyone to hold any interest or wish him harm.

Old, weathered hands pulled at the pelt wrapped around Yura.

"Where did you get this?"

The image of Viktor lying to the chief in the great hall entered Yura's thoughts. Viktor had said he woke up in the forest with no recollection of how he got there.

"I don't know. I was asleep but I woke up outside, so I ran straight home." Because at least that was true, minus the falling through the air part.

They both heard steps in the snow outside approaching, and the pair barely had time to back away from the door before the people outside started banging on it.

"Plisetsky! Open up!"

Yura felt his grandfather push him back.

"I'm coming," the old man called and gave his grandson one more look.

Yura, who suddenly realized he wore something unfamiliar, quickly took off the pelt and hid it behind the dresser. Underneath he still wore one of his own pelt and he quickly removed that too.

His grandfather opened the door.

"Nikolai! Have you seen your… oh, Yura. You're home?"

Nikolai glared hard at the man from the guard, making sure to keep a tight hold on both the door and the doorframe to keep the man out. "Shouldn't he be?" the old man asked.

Surprisingly the guard, both of them, as there was a second man behind the first that Nikolai hadn't noticed, sighed and sagged in relief.

"If he is home, all is well," the second guard said and smiled through his beard.

The first man straightened slightly. "We suspect a monster tried to abduct him in his sleep when we found him at the edge of the village. Georgi said he caught Yurachek falling through the air."

Nikolai just barely managed to supress his horror.

"I'm not hurt," Yura said behind him, sounding firm despite his soft voice. "I was just… surprised."

The old man remembered the look on his grandson's face when he caught him by the door. He'd been more than just surprised, but wasn't about to say that out loud.

"The guard is going to hold a meeting in a few hours. Can we call you to tell us what happened?" the second man called inside the house.

Nikolai looked behind him. Yura stood with his arms wrapped tightly around himself, shivering from the rigid cold that drifted inside due to the open door. His face was strangely blank.

"Sure," he answered shortly.

"If that is all, I'm closing this door," Nikolai said and didn't wait for an answer as he slammed the heavy door closed and bolted it.

Yura was by the fire in an instant, putting another log on the embers.

Nikolai watched him. His headstrong, stubborn grandchild. It was strange really, how often he could read his own history in Yura despite him being so much newer to the world than Nikolai. But in the hunching figure by the slowly growing fire he saw himself, saw a part of his own mother, a touch of his grandfather in the way Yura's fingers bent, and the way he used his teeth to pull out a splinter from his finger was all Yura's father.

"Do you think you'll be able to sleep until the meeting?" Nikolai asked quietly.

Yura shook his head negative. "Too much adrenaline for that. Can you go over my hair for lice?"

The old man nodded and dug out the fine toothed comb and a brush from a drawer in the dresser as Yura put a shallow pot with a little water on the fire. It was something they did regularly since not all the households cared as much about hygiene as the Plisetsky, and the last thing Veronica needed was the accusation of spreading vermin. Yura also happened to like it a lot.

When the water was boiling, Nikolai dipped both comb and brush in the water, killing anything unclean before he methodically brushed Yura's hair, occasionally dipping his tools in the boiling water. He decided they should probably boil all of their cloths after the meeting. It would start a chain reaction and the neighbours would come over to boil their cloths too after Nikolai was done, paying with the firewood they saved for using his fire.

Finishing with Yura's hair, Nikolai put the brush and comb in the water and sat down with a heavy sigh. Yura stood, carefully fished out the comb, made sure it was clean before he did the same thing with the brush and returned the favour.

His grandfather always had had thick hair. Even now as his hair was slowly but surely climbing up his forehead and thinning a little on the top, Yura still wished his hair was as strong as his grandfather's and would last as long. Many of the elders Nikolai's age had a lot thinner hair, and one of them only had a thin beard left.

Yura thought of Katsuki as he worked, being careful to dip the comb and brush in the boiling water after every three or four strokes. Katsuki was a monster, but throughout his encounter with him the only thing that had really frightened Yura was that very thought. Katsuki hadn't been hostile or threatening; he had been downright hospitable. Considering the circumstances, that was a lot more than Yura figured he'd deserved. It was also everything a human wouldn't be in that situation. Obviously there were more monsters living in the mountain (and a goat, Yura had a really hard time digesting that) and Katsuki probably could call them all to help him kill an intruder. The humans of this village would do just that.

"Hey, grandpa," Yura said slowly. "Are we… coexisting?"

The old man sat still for a beat before he turned his head. "What do you mean?"

Yura shrugged helplessly. "I don't know… something I… dreamt maybe?" Lying to his precious grandfather felt horrible, but the old man was as afraid of monsters as everyone else, so it's not like Yura could just come out with the truth.

Nikolai turned to stare into the flames again and Yura continued to comb his hair. "I think we're coexisting," he said at long last, sounding calm and fairly sure. "It's not perfect, and I realize we're like outsiders, but we're not shunned by the other villagers. We all work side by side with the animals and the land and share the results… somewhat equally."

It was not at all what Yura had wanted to hear. The Katsuki's idea was very different and actually sounded more sensible the more Yura thought about it. If he produced something he didn't need for himself but say… cats could eat (because Potya just curled up by the fire) then the cat would stick around. If the cat in turn produced something Yura needed, it was a win-win situation. Now this wasn't the case. Potya was an exceptional hunter, but there were a lot more mice and other prey around houses with other animals. She was just here because the Plisetsky didn't chase her out in the cold, were happy to receive a mouse now and then, and she was great to have during nights when it was so cold all three of them had to share a bed. Then the cat would crawl under the blankets, squeeze in between their bodies and purr up a heating storm that all of the Plisetsky had decided was soothing.

So what did the katsu produce? He had to keep the goat fed, they weren't hunters and as far as Yura knew grass didn't grow inside the mountain… at least he thought so.

The child huffed quietly. He'd never been good with unanswered questions because… Yura frowned in thought. Had he ever had a lot of unanswered questions?

"Have you ever…" he started, but quickly shut his mouth. He had spoken though and his grandfather's head turned slightly.

"Have I ever?"

Yura bit his lip before he bent down to dip the comb and brush in the water. "Is there anything you've ever… questioned?" he settled with.

The old man shrugged slightly. "I've questioned why the new chief is insisting the monsters out there are out to eat us humans."

"Why? Are they not?" Yura asked in surprise.

Nikolai was silent for a while. Yura finished with his hair and moved on to the grey beard. However, Nikolai was old, but very keen, even though his thought progress wasn't very fast. Coexist was a self-explanatory word, but Nikolai had now come to realize he'd only heard the mayor before the last say that word, which was long before he met his wife. To have Yura ask about it out of the blue, Nikolai wasn't stupid enough to not realize there was something Yura had been told or witnessed that now made him ask strange questions.

"The village has never been attacked before. There aren't any stories about it. All we have are the merchants who talk about attacks on their troupes. Viktor, Mira and Georgi have also talked about attacks and people dying, but I don't think they ever spoke about monsters eating humans."

Yura frowned and thought for a while. "So chief's paranoia…" he glanced up at his elder, "is based on stories?"

"We have a lot of those, don't we," Nikolai smiled.

"Is that why Viktor is locked up?"

Oh, so that was it. Yura had gone with Veronica to that meeting. Now his questions made sense and Nikolai felt how he relaxed from relief. However, the question itself was sensitive, as Yura was an impulsive teenager.

"It may be so. I will come with you to the meeting though, so let me ask the questions there. You shouldn't attract more attention to yourself."

Yura nodded in understanding and finished with his grandfather's beard, happy to note he hadn't found any lice.

* * *

It was Georgi who had been ordered to fetch Viktor for the meeting after a long debate with chief Maksim. Georgi's reasoning had been that Yurachek and Viktor said the same thing, thus should both be present to tell their stories. Maksim had said Viktor already shared his version. Georgi was feeling decidedly sick to his stomach that the only reason the chief had given in was that Georgi, Mila and a couple others from the guard had persistently insisted they should be there when Yura told his tale to the chief in person. When it came to the Plisetsky child, Maksim was increasingly keen on getting alone time with him.

Knocking on the door before unbolting it, Georgi walked into Viktor's cell.

"Hey Viktor, we're gathering to…" the dancer's voice died.

Viktor's face was red, he was sweating and gasping, and he'd stripped both his coats. When Georgi entered Viktor spun around, reached out an arm as if he wanted to lean against a wall, realized he was quite far from a wall, stumbled and then moved his arms around as if he didn't know what to do with them.

"You're back!" Viktor said happily, his breath creating dense clouds around his mouth and nose.

"Yeah? You're called to the meeting," Georgi said unsurely. He wasn't sure what to make of the situation. Viktor looked like he'd been running around or done heavy exercising, (probably the latter since there really wasn't enough room for any running) which would explain his gasping, but not why he'd taken off his coats. Makkachin trotted over and hid behind Georgi's legs, looking up at the brunette dancer as if asking for help.

"Don't worry about this! I just decided to blow some steam!" Viktor suddenly stressed, and yes, when Georgi thought about it, the other did look a little angry.

"Okay. The chief/the people would like to hear your story again. After what happened with Yura we all need to share our opinions on the matter."

Viktor inhaled deeply, blowing out another cloud of hot air. "Of course," he said, and Georgi couldn't decipher his tone.

* * *

Whatever Yuuri had given him to stay warm, Viktor had figured out the hard way they were probably not healthy for humans. The good news were that he didn't feel sick. His head was crystal clear, his senses worked just fine, but the heat came with something akin to a powerful adrenaline boost.

So now Viktor was sweating, shivering and his skin was so sensitive he had to fight the urge to remove his coat again after Georgi helped him put it on. The padding felt itchy even through Viktor's shirt. It also made him uncomfortably warm, even in the dead of winter.

On the other hand; this was how Yuuri made it through the winter without freezing to death. Viktor realized that logically. The valan didn't have fur, but wore clothes. The monster was a lone hunter dependant on stealth, so it made sense he'd found a way to stay warm and still dress lightly despite the temperature dropping to minus 40 degrees C and further.

It actually made Viktor feel underdeveloped as a human. A feeling that wasn't helped as he walked into the grand hall where most of the guard and the rest of the village people waited. They were humans who barely functioned in a group, couldn't move alone and needed a pack-leader that in this case was both incompetent and a paedophile.

Chief Maksim was obviously not going to grace Viktor with a glance, but the still overly visible clouds of his breath forced the leader to look again. He didn't say anything though. Not that Viktor cared. He'd just spotted Nikolai Plisetsky behind the chief, holding Yura tightly to his side under his coat.

The child glanced at Viktor, the anxiety radiating from his green eyes despite his blank face.

Viktor turned and whispered to Georgi. "Why is Yura here?"

"To compare his story to yours," his friend whispered back.

The silver dancer glanced at the chief. He was aware of a tension between them, and he had a growing suspicion that it had to do with Yura.

"We have gathered here today because we suspect, and let me emphasize that we only _suspect_ , a monster has indeed entered the village," the chief spoke, his voice slow, deep and calm, making sure the crowd wouldn't rise in panic.

People still pulled closer to each other, glancing at the shadows on the walls.

"We have had two similar incidents," the chief continued. "The first was Viktor Nikiforov. Viktor, would you please retell your version? How did you end up in the snow without any tracks around you?"

The dancer took a deep breath, blowing steam from his mouth that was thankfully less apparent in the warmth of the grand hall.

"I don't know," he said honestly. "I fell asleep in that room, Makkachin was with me. But when I woke up I was outside with Makkachin unconscious in my arms."

Maksim glanced down at the animal in question, leaning heavily against Viktor's leg. Then he turned to Nikolai.

"Plisetsky. A few hours ago your grandson was found outside. Had you sent him out?"

"I had not, chief," Nikolai answered clearly. "It was night and we were asleep."

"Do you sleep in separate beds?"

The old man frowned. "In the winter? Of course not. I awoke when I started feeling cold and found Yura's side empty, and then Yura suddenly burst through the door."

The chief nodded and then turned to the lumpy outline of Yurachek hiding underneath his grandfather's coat.

"Yurachek, could you please explain what happened."

Viktor wanted to step up beside the child, act like moral support, or at least send Makkachin forward. But Nikolai and the whole village was watching, so Maksim wouldn't be able to do anything.

Yura stepped out of hiding, but stayed under Nikolai's arm. He kept his face carefully blank and expressionless, albeit with a hint of defiance there.

"I was asleep, but then it was getting cold so I woke up, and found myself falling through the air. Someone grabbed me and I started fighting."

"He did," Georgi confirmed. "It was my head he dropped on."

"Where did you fall asleep?" Maksim asked next.

Viktor watched as Yura's face flickered under his blank mask before he answered. "In my bed beside grandpa. Where else?"

Georgi suddenly stepped forward. "We don't know where Viktor was held during the days he was missing, but we know where the Plisetsky live. If we draw a line from their house to where Yurachek dropped and compare it to where we found Viktor, we might be able to track down the monster's den."

Viktor was still watching Yura, thus he managed to catch the worry, and the way his mouth opened as if he wanted to protest before he caught himself and shut his mouth close tight.

Yura had gone out and been found by Yuuri who had brought him back to the village. It was a theory pulled off the top of his head, but there was no other explanation when he already had proof that Yuuri was involved. Viktor kicked himself mentally for not asking the valan what he'd been doing there and what had happened with Yura. Now he really needed to talk to the child.

Georgi's idea was met by agreement. Everyone was eager to get to the bottom of this budding mystery. Viktor really hoped he'd be roped into it, if only so he could derail the search away from the mountains. Hunting down a lone valan healer sounded too cruel even to Viktor who didn't necessarily like valans, or monsters in general. Yuuri had just made a peaceful and harmless impression on the dancer.

"What about Viktor? Will you give him back to me now? I'm sure he can help you with the search of the monster."

Viktor looked up in surprise. He hadn't realized Inna was in the crowd, but of course she would be. Her face was paler than last time Viktor had seen her and she looked sleep deprived.

Maksim made a strange face and didn't answer right away.

"Please!" Inna begged. "There're only so many nights Veronica can share with me and the nights are increasingly cold! Do you want me to die?!"

Viktor and everyone else looked to the chief. It was forbidden to leave a house empty for more than a day since it was believed ghosts could settle in the home if they thought it was abandoned. So Inna, who lived alone with Viktor, couldn't very well ask to sleep in someone else's home, so it was only natural she'd had the whore come over. But Veronica was in high demand during the height of winter due to the cold.

But Maksim was clearly reluctant to release Viktor into the village again, yet the longer he stayed silent, the winder Inna's eyes became, and whispers started to rise.

"Viktor… may return home to you, Inna," Maksim said at last. "Though I ask you to be keen on any behaviour you might not recognize."

"I will be," Inna swiftly promised. "Just return Viktor to me right away!"

As Viktor walked down to Inna and was encased in her overly eager embrace, he caught Yura's eye. They looked at each other for a second, Yura mouthing words Viktor couldn't decipher. All he knew was that they seemed to be on the same page; Yuuri was to remain a secret inhabitant of the mountains.


End file.
